A Lock of Hair
by Cielesia
Summary: In order to keep her Magic Pharmaceuticals grade in the green, Akko is asked to brew a potion that requires a special ingredient - a strand of hair plucked from the head of a witch struck with love. The only problem - as far as Akko knew, she has never been in love. Well, not yet, at least.
1. A Lock of Hair

_Chapter 1: A Lock of Hair_

* * *

 _Bessel's Potion is an elementary potion of puissance only usable by one person. The main ingredient of the potion is a lock of specially prepared hair of the intended user. When added, the hair will make the potion turn into the hue of the person's eyes. The only notable side-effect is that the user's eyes will glow for up to an hour after consumption._

Just reading that excerpt made my head hurt a little. What does puissance even mean? I had my English to Japanese dictionary _somewhere_ under my bed, but I didn't feel like diving into the depths just to look up one word. I'm sure my roommates knew what it meant.

I shut the book. From my place on the floor, I looked up to Sucy, who had been busy working on her own Potions assignment. While I and a few others were stuck with the baby potions, she was at the top of Professor Lukic's class, hitting pound for pound with Diana. I couldn't see what stuff she was adding to her small cauldron, but from the green smoke wafting out the open window, I didn't think I wanted to know. "Hey, Sucy, what's a potion of puissance?"

"A strength potion," she said, not even sparing me a glance as another puff of smoke – red this time – shot violently out of the cauldron. She cackled to herself, and it eerily reminded me of the cackling I heard earlier.

 _If you don't want to repeat Magic Pharmaceuticals I_ , Professor Lukic had said with that raspy voice of hers, _then you'll make me a Bessel's. All the ingredients are common enough except for the activating reagent 'Fleetfoot's tail', which I can provide in a fortnight's time. You'll know you did it right if it takes the shade of your eyes. I heard you've made progress in Flight class, Ms. Kagari. I hope to see that same progress in Potions as well._

That's why I had the musty old tome out in front of me. I wasn't going to flunk Potions if I had anything to say about it! "Thanks. Have to make one for Professor Lukic."

"Can I see?" Lotte said, peeking out her head from the top bunk in order to meet my eyes. I stood up, handing the book to her. As she ran her eyes over the text, I couldn't help but notice the Nightfall book at her side. On the copyright page was _Barbara Parker_ written in neat handwriting. I smiled. Since me and Sucy weren't into Nightfall, I was glad that Lotte had finally found someone to gush to. Sure, it was a little surprising that _Barbara_ of all people was into such a geeky series, but I found it charming nonetheless.

"How much am I going to suffer, Lotte?"

" _Procedure: Add the ingredients listed below into a mortar and pestle and grind into a paste. Add the paste into a cauldron and stir clockwise for ten to thirty seconds on no heat_ ," Lotte read, and at that line, I heard Sucy shift in her seat.

I turned around and saw her with a toothy grin on her face. "Wow, not even you could mess that up. Professor Lukic must have been feeling merciful today."

As I poked the offending Filipino's cheek, Lotte said, "The ingredients seem simple too. Even _I_ have some kaho leaves and kude nuts lying around, and I rarely make potions outside of class. Although, there seem to be a few difficult ones. I heard the stockroom's all out of Fleetfoot's tail-"

"Professor Lukic's gonna gimme some when it's time to turn in my assignment."

"That's great. That means the only thing to worry about is the hair," Lotte said, running a finger over the print. " _Hair must be plucked while the witch is in a state of heightened infatuation_. I wonder what that means."

"A potion of puissance with a special kind of hair? Sounds like Bessel's to me. I was never good at preparing the hair," Sucy said, a frown gracing her features. "You need to be in love, after all. The romantic kind."

"In love?" I said, clutching my head out of exasperation. Love wasn't something I thought about often. Sure, I loved the hell out of my family and friends, but romance was different. I thought back to my junior high experience back in Japan. While I'd feel stares follow my bloomer-clad legs as I ran laps during my time on my school's track team, I had been told that boys thought I was too rowdy to date, and none of the girls seemed interested in my apparentl "rowdiness" either. I had zero romantic experience. I hadn't even had my first kiss yet. "How am I supposed to get this done now? I don't even have a date!"

"Hm, I'm still not done reading the entry in its entirety," Lotte said, her gaze so intense it looked like she was going over the print of the book with a fine comb, "but I think you only need to feel that you're in love at the moment of plucking."

"You're right," Sucy said. "There should be a blurb there that mentions that plucking the hair moments after consuming chocolate works, although the potion will take a milky color."

"So _that's_ why Professor Lukic specified the color," I said. "She doesn't want me to 'fake it' – she wants the real deal."

Sucy said as she stood up from her desk. I couldn't help but notice that her cauldron had been emptied, and that the materials Lotte mentioned earlier were on her desk. Aw, she already prepared everything for me. I felt my heart melt. Sucy never showed it, but she could be a real softie.

Then, she leaned in, her lips set in a manic grin. "Maybe you should ask Professor Ursula to wear her old costume for you."

Instantly, I felt heat rise to my cheeks. T-that would be way too improper for a teacher. It had a cleavage window, for Arcturus' sake! Besides, it had been years since then – would it even fit her? Professor Chariot sure has grown in places- _no_ , she was my teacher. I refused to go down that line of thinking!

As I shook my head to get rid of the inflammatory thoughts, Sucy's hand shot out, and I felt a harsh pang of pain as hair was pulled from my scalp. I raised a hand to massage the sore area. "Hey, that was way more than a single hair!"

"More hair strands lead to more consistency," Sucy said. She placed the bundle – I could count at least twelve strands, you witch – on the desk and waved a hand, as if inviting me to sit down in front of it. "Time to get to work. I only have one Fleetfoot's tail, so don't mess this up."

"Yes ma'am! Thanks a ton, you guys," I said, wrapping my arms around the Filipino witch. She squirmed in my grasp. I hugged harder. I heard Lotte get down from her top bunk, and I felt her tap my shoulder. I let go of Sucy with a pout in order to receive the Potions book.

I sat down at the desk, opened the book to the recipe page, and began to brew the potion. I chuckled a little to myself. My friends were right – this was incredibly simple. Normally, potions were picky things. They needed ingredients to be prepared in certain ways – for example, Kefkli seeds had to be crushed with the flat of the blade before adding since the juices created foul smelling fumes when added to boiling water. Potion ingredients also needed to be added to the cauldron with specific timings under specific temperatures, and the brew had to be stirred in specific ways as well – two times clockwise, rest, one half circle counterclock wise – it was a messy affair.

This Bessel's potion, however, was straightforward. Toss all the ingredients except the hair and tail into a mortar and pestle, grind it into mush, toss it into a cauldron, stir for ten seconds, and boom, you got enough of the base potion to make twenty phials' worth. Once the base potion's in the phial, add the hair and tail used to activated it and –

"Nothing?" I said, looking at the mixture in my hand. The ingredients had already dissolved in the solution, but there was no reaction. I double-checked the book, and there were no other steps to take. I looked over my shoulder to see my friends with furrowed brows on their faces. They looked just as confused as me. "You guys think I missed something?"

"Your procedure's correct. However, you probably weren't feeling enough of a love high when I plucked your hair-"

"Hairs."

"-out," Sucy said as Lotte patted my shoulder. I smiled wistfully at the two of them. "Looks like you'll need more than thoughts to kickstart the dopamine in your system."

"What about a kiss?" Lotte said, and I saw her gaze more towards the Nightfall book hanging precariously on the edge of her bunk. "Maybe that'll be enough."

"Well, might as well go all out and go on a date," Sucy said. "I'm all out of tails, and Akko said the next shipment is coming in two weeks. Might as well get the strongest hair strands we can get."

I pouted, poking her pale cheeks. "You're just saying that 'cause you're not the one going on the dates."

"Correct."

"Mou," I said, ignoring her unabashed statement, "who can I even ask?"

The room fell silent. I looked to both of my friends. They were giving each other pointed stares, as if they were having a little battle of the minds. I imagined a conversation in my head:

 _Are you gonna tell her?_

 _Tell her what?_

 _Y'know,_ that _._

 _What? I don't wanna tell her_ that _._

 _But it'll help!_

 _Then why don't_ you _tell her about_ that _?_

 _But saying that outright is a little-_

"I feel like I'm not being told something."

"N-no, not at all," Lotte said, tugging at her collar. "I was just thinking… maybe you can ask your friends."

My face fell. "Huh? But I don't like my friends that way… I think."

"Well, maybe you have a deep-seeded love for someone, and now's the chance for it to finally rise to the forefront of the rocks-for-brains head of yours," Sucy said, giving my temple a gentle rap with her knuckles.

They weren't even trying to be subtle about it anymore! "Hey, who's this 'someone' you're talking about?"

"Akko," Lotte started, "you kinda look at Diana sometimes."

"If by 'sometimes' she means 'all the time'."

My cheeks started to heat up, and I had to hold back the urge to slap my two friends silly. "Hey, I do _not_ stare at Diana! She just sits in front of me in all the classes I have with her. In order to pay any attention to the lecture, I'd have to look her way. Totally. "Y'know what, I think what you said earlier was right, Lotte."

"Huh?"

"I _should_ ask my friends."

I raced for my bed, pulled out a slightly crumpled sheet of A4, and hopped back onto the desk. I started scribbling names in katakana so Sucy and Lotte couldn't read. I quickly penned down the names of my teammates. If they were going to tease me about Diana, then they were going to have to suffer an afternoon with me. Those jerks. I wrote down the names of the green team too. Amanda wouldn't mind, and I'm used to imposing on Constanze and Jasminka. My writing stopped for a moment as I thought of the blue team.

Diana. A date with Diana.

Well, if I was going to ask Diana out, I might as well ask Diana's whole team out. I wrote down Diana, Hannah, and Barbara.

I looked at the list so far. Seven names – all girls. Hmm, maybe I should add at least one guy to the list. I never really put much thought into my sexuality, so for all I knew, I could be straight. I apologized silently to Andrew as I wrote his name down.

Lastly… I sneaked a glance at Sucy, who had been looking at me with a glint of curiosity in her eyes. I cursed her in my head for putting thoughts of Professor Ursula in a Shiny Chariot costume into my consciousness. Still, Sucy was right. I penned Chariot's name down.

"What's that list, Akko?" Lotte said, her expression betraying her illiteracy when it came to Japanese.

I leaned to the side, snatching a ten-sided die that was on the floor, and said, "It's a list of people I wouldn't mind asking out. I'll roll this die and decide who to ask out first."

"Nice looking d10," Lotte said. These things were called d10's?

I grinned, showing the side where the one should be. In its place was a star – Shiny Chariot's star. "It's a limited-edition die used to play the card game."

Sucy said, "Why didn't you use the die when you played with Lotte last time?"

"N-not important right now!" I stammered, cupping the die and shaking my hands vigorously. "Let's gooooooooooo!"

I chucked the die. It landed on two. I looked towards the list, and in slot number two was Sucy. I turned to the witch in question and shot her my own tooth grin. She met me with a grimace.

"I don't like the look on your face," Sucy said. She made a move to turn away, but my hand darted for hers, keeping her in place.

"Hehe, go out with me tomorrow, Sucy!"


	2. Sucy Manbavaran

_Chapter 2: Sucy Manbavaran_

* * *

Once classed had wrapped up the following day, me and Sucy headed out towards the forested area around Luna Nova. Apparently, with the resurgence of magic, potion ingredients have become easier and easier to find, and Lukic had Sucy scout nearby areas in case rare ingredients could be found nearby. It took a little beg- _convincing_ , but I managed to join her on her little excursion.

She and I were walking side by side, the pale girl next to me looking at the scroll in her hand with a bunch of foreign sounding words written on it with neat penmanship. As she had her eyes on what was pretty much her grocery list, I had my eyes on the hand that wasn't holding the list – the one that was dangling off on the side next to me. If I just moved an inch towards her, my hand would graze hers.

Should I do it? This _was_ supposed to be a date, after all, and hand-holding was a typical date thing. Right?

I shot a look at the witch in order to gauge her expression. All her focus was on the list, her gaze only leaving it when she inspected her surroundings for the magical ingredients. Not once did her eyes dart towards our hands. I pouted. I supposed that I had to take the lead if I wanted to get my own Lukic-issued project underway.

I slid my right hand over to her left, entwining my fingers with hers. The first thought that hit me was that her hands were soft. She didn't use lotion, from what I could tell, so the feel of her hand in mine had no right to send shivers up my arm like it did. It was cold too, like I was holding hands with the yeti I met in Scotland. I squeezed gently, hoping to send some of my body heat her way without damaging the un-calloused hand in mine.

I felt her squeeze back. I looked up, only to be met with a toothy grin, the one that made it hard to read what she was really thinking. "Found something interesting, ey, Akko?"

"You know I'm trying to make Bessel's," I shot back as I pulled our joined hands into easy view. "This will take me one step closer."

All she did was laugh in reply. I huffed, feeling a little miffed. Sure, she didn't have to pretend to be all lovey-dovey for me when she didn't feel that way, but give me something to work with, y'know!

Before I could continue my tirade, a creature stepped onto the dirt path we were taking maybe fifty meters ahead of us. It looked like a normal wild boar I'd be able to find in Hakone except its tusks were the size of my forearm. The tips of its tusks glowed green, like it had dipped them in ectoplasm or something this morning. The beast snorted, its beady eyes getting narrower and narrower. It totally wanted to charge us.

I looked at Sucy. Her toothy grin had grown wider.

"Wilkish boar. Its tusks can be used to create a potent poison that causes your pinky fingers to become extremely swollen and feel extremely painful."

"Just my pinkies?"

"And it's on the list," Sucy ignored, "so we'll need to grab it."

I kinda felt bad that we were going to de-tusk the beast. "What's the plan? We aren't gonna hurt it, are we?"

"No. Plan A: put it to sleep." I watched as she pocketed her grocery list and pulled out an Erlenmeyer flask in is place, the flask filled to the halfway mark with a weird, pink liquid. She lobbed it into the air. Before it could hit its mark, the boar lunged out of the way, the potion causing a thin pink mist to appear behind the boar. It turned away from looking at the mist to look at us. It grazed its hooves against the dirt underneath it, like a bull staring down a matador.

My grip on Sucy's hand tightened. "What's Plan B?"

"Run."

I pulled Sucy to the side just as the boar started its charge. It looked manic as its black eyes turned red and its snout started spewing out steam. The Sucy I had meet at the bridge a long time ago would have tripped me and left me to fend the boar off by myself, so a part of me felt touched that she didn't just ditch me.

The other part didn't want baguette-sized pinkies.

"This isn't a very good plan!" I said, running past trees and hopping over roots as I tried my hand at navigating through the forest. I spared a glance back, Sucy's face set in stone as she tried to blast the boar with something. Speaking about the boar, it was fast - it weaved around Sucy's spells with ease. Luckily for us, the boar seemed to find the uneven terrain difficult to run on, slowing it down enough to keep us ahead of it.

"I guess I wanted to try something more your speed today," Sucy said. I could feel the grip in my hand start to slip. Neither of us were prepared for long-distance running, so we were burning our stamina at both ends. While we were still out of the beast's reach at that moment, it was only a matter of time until it caught up to us.

I had to do something. I pulled out my wand, aimed at the thing chasing us down, and said, "Let me have a go. _Metamorphie_ -"

I grunted as Sucy squeezed my hand _hard_. "Don't transform it, you dolt – we still need its tusk!"

"Right, right," I said, putting away my wand. While my magic was getting better, the only spell I could cast on the fly with a hundred percent success rate was _metamorphie faciesse_ , so unless I wanted to risk hurting anyone, I was better off not using magic. "What are we gonna do?"

Wordlessly, Sucy swished her wand towards a nearby tree. A green beam shot out of it, colliding with the bark. Splinters and chunks of wood flew into the air as a half-meter long gap of the tree suddenly became missing. The upper half of the tree fell over, falling right in front of the boar's path. I heard a loud thunk, as if someone had thrown a huge dart at the fallen tree. I stopped and couldn't help noticing that Sucy still had my hand in her grasp.

"Hey, the tree could've crushed it!" I said, leading Sucy over to the fallen tree. At said tree, the boar had its tusks stuck halfway in the wood. It shook its head, angrily huffing as it tried to wrestle itself from its wooden doom, but it was no use. Sucy pulled out a phial of the same liquid from earlier and poured it onto the top of the boar's head. In a snap, the boar lost consciousness.

"Like I said," Sucy said, letting go of my hand to pull out a jar twice the size of my tub of peanut butter back in the dorm. Where she hid that in her small messenger bag I had no clue, though I bet Diana would have an answer. I resolved to ask the blonde that exact question as the Filipino tapped her wand against the left tusk of the sleeping boar, bisecting it. "I wanted to do Akko things today."

I ignored the scathing jab.

"Looks kinda sad without his tusks." Sure, it tried to inflame my pinkies, but I still couldn't help but feel kinda bad about the guy.

"Wilkish boars grown their tusks back in two months."

"Oh. Then I don't feel that bad."

Sucy tossed the two tusks into the jar and placed it back into her bag. Then, turning to me, she held out a hand. My gaze went from her hand to her face. Her toothy grin wasn't there. All I saw was serenity in her slightly pursed lips.

I took her hand.

Looking at how we were joined, I said, "Hey, what is love to you, Sucy?"

I saw her raise an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well," I said, scratching the back of my head with my free hand, "I _am_ trying to figure out what it is so that I can be in that 'heightened infatuation' state. It'd be nice to hear what that state is from my _date_."

Sucy looked away. "You're asking a girl who's been a loner for her whole life. I know nothing. Besides, you've been in my mind – you tell me what you saw."

I shivered uncontrollably for a split second. Remembering my misadventure in the mushroom-lover's mind always felt surreal, like it never actually happened. Like it shouldn't have happened. Being in her world and interacting with her personalities made it feel like I've been made privy to a secret that wasn't mine to know.

Still, I did know. The most distinct memory that Sucy held, the one closest to her heart, was the one I made with her at the bridge leading up to the leyline. That's why the only time the dream drive-in movie had serious animation was when she and I first met. She cherished that memory just as much as I did.

I must have been wordless for a while because Sucy started to drag me away from the sleeping boar. She stopped in front of a large tree, and after sparing me another glance, maneuvered me into it with my back pressed against the bark. I looked at her, her toothy grin still absent. Her gaze was intense, and while I felt the urge to look away, I couldn't. She approached me, her hand on my chin and her knee between my legs. I felt afraid. No, I didn't fear for my safety. Maybe anxious was a better word. Anxious for what was about to happen, what _could_ happen.

"Love. Would you like me to show you what it means to me?" Sucy asked, her face so close to mine I could feel her breath.

Before I could answer, the Filipino closed the distance and kissed me. Since she was a bit taller than me, I had to angle my mouth up slightly to meet hers, though it wasn't uncomfortable. Far from uncomfortable, actually. It felt great. Amazing. I could feel my mind short circuit at how _soft_ Sucy felt, at how _sweet_ her lips felt pressed against mine. I had to lean my entire weight against the tree to my back 'cause my knees were shaking. So _this_ was what a first kiss felt like. Electrifying. Magical.

Eventually, we parted. I was out of breath, my heart still hammering my ribcage, so I couldn't say anything as Sucy swiped a few locks of hair from my head. She pulled out an empty phial, slid the hairs into it, and corked it.

"Who's next on the list?" Sucy asked, slipping the phial into my pocket.

It took me a moment to understand what she was asking. Wordlessly, I pulled out the scrap of paper in my pocket. Beside the katakana were the names written in English.

 _Sucy_

 _Lotte_

 _Chariot_

 _Barbara_

 _Jazminka_

 _Constanze_

 _Hannah_

 _Diana_

 _Andrew_

 _Amanda_

"Hmph. See you later, Akko."

She slid the slip into my open hand, patted my cheek, and walked off without me.

* * *

"What happened to you, Akko?"

There I stood at the entrance to the dorms, probably looking like I had lost a fight with the forest with Diana in front of me. She looked concerned, her lips pressed in a small frown. She reached for something in my hair and pulled out a twig. She frowned.

"Um, I was out gathering materials with Sucy for her Magic Pharmaceutics assignment," I said. Her eyes seemed to narrow. She always managed to see through my lies, though what I was doing wasn't lying – I just wasn't telling her the whole truth. Still, staring into those sharp blue orbs made me feel unsettled.

"Mhm. And I suppose you had a little trouble 'finding materials' with her," she said, pulling out her wand, "with how unkempt you look."

"We had to avoid a woke-ish boar," I said.

"Wilkish boar," she corrected, tapping her wand gently against my noggin. I felt a gust of wind pass through my head, dust and debris falling from my person. "And I didn't know they were native to the UK."

I wasn't sure why she sounded so suspicious, especially since she knew how much of a trouble-magnet I was. "Sucy mentioned about the return of magic bringing back more and more magical creatures or something."

"Correct," Diana acceded, flicking a wand to get rid of the mess on the floor. "Still, I'd prefer if you were to not put yourself in harm's way like that."

"I'll try, but I was glad to help her out, y'know," I said. In the back of my head, I thought about the list. If I were to follow that to the T – lest the dice deities curse me with horrible luck – then I'd have a date with Diana in a week. She was definitely the type to want to prepare for that kind of stuff, so maybe it'd be best to ask her out early.

Luckily, I was romantically exhausted, otherwise I'd probably have to conceal a blush or choke back embarrassment. "Hey, Diana. Are you free next week?"

"Hm, it depends," Diana said, putting a hand to her chin. "Study and weekly patrols take up a lot of my time, as you already know. Why?"

"Go out on a date with me."

* * *

 **Hi. I'm glad that a few of you enjoyed the last chapter.** **I'm trying to go for a fluff fic that has a little bit of every Akko ship in it, so I'll be dedicating a chapter for each person on the list. At around 2k words per chapter, that'll put the story at around 14k, including the prologue and the epilogue.**

 **I hope you look forward to it.**


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